The mushroom this world traveler swears by for staying well on the road

Welcome to Good Travel, where the wellness world’s road warriors share their secret healthy travel hacks—and exactly how (and where!) they figured them out. Today we have Tero Isokauppila, president of medicinal mushroom and superfood elixir brand Four Sigmatic, sharing his secret to being a super-healthy globe-trotter.

I have lived in eight countries in three continents over the past decade, and have had to to travel upwards of 40 trips per year. This kind of lifestyle is both the best ever, and the worst ever—mostly because of massive exposure to germs, inflammation, and wear and tear for my body.

I take my health and wellness hacks while traveling very seriously—which has helped me to not be sick for one single day in almost a decade.

When I travel, I leverage simple, time-tested tricks like intermittent fasting, drinking water with sea salt, and stretching to keep my body feeling fresh. I’ve also tried more exotic things like doses of blue-green algae and adaptogenic roots to detox and lower inflammation during extensive travel. But if I just had to pick one single trick for healthier travel, it is to drink chaga mushrooms.

I discovered the power of drinking mushrooms (from a powder that’s made into a tea) on my first round-the-world trip almost a decade ago. Even though I was a healthy young man, the long flights and constant change of time zones started to take its toll on my body.

I take my health and wellness hacks while traveling very seriously—which has helped me to not be sick for one single day in almost a decade.

I knew about chaga mushrooms from my native country of Finland, where it has been drunk as a coffee substitute for ages. It’s a medicinal mushroom that grows in birch trees all over the Northern hemisphere, and unlike most other medicinal mushrooms it has a nice coffee-like flavor.

Chaga, often called a superfood, is touted as a powerful immune-system modulator. It’s also one of the world’s highest gram-per-gram source of antioxidants. And when I started to replace bad airport coffee and tea with chaga, I started noticing how my skin felt better and my joints were much less inflamed.

Where to stay when you want to stay healthy on the road? EVEN Hotels has a wellness-savvy staff, in-room fitness, healthier food choices, and natural, relaxing spaces. Find out more at evenhotels.com